March 26, 2019 · 10:47 am

Sri Lanka Government’s Position at UNHRC Ballet in Geneva: ONE

Sujeeswera Senadhira, in Daily News, 22 March 2019, with this title “Strength in unity at UNHRC” 

The government delegation comprises of Foreign Minister and members nominated by the President displayed that the consensual delegation could face the challenges at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in (sic) a stronger footing in the face of UN human rights chief’s warning that Sri Lanka could slip back to conflict unless it addressed the ‘worst crimes’ during the final stages of its ethnic conflict.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana PC addressing the 40th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Wednesday. Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Northern Province Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Ary

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, discrimination, doctoring evidence, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, world events & processes

March 26, 2019 · 10:21 am

Questioning Mangala’s Position on Geneva and His Rebuttal of Mahinda

Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 23 March 2019, with this title “Mangala’s rebuttal of Mahinda’s critique: some comments”

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, in a scathing attack, has condemned former President and current Leader of Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) for challenging the Wickremesinghe government’s decision to co-sponsor the rollover of UNHRC Resolutions 30/1 and 34/1 for a further two-year period.

Rajeewa vs Mangala

The role of the Leader of Opposition and the main Opposition party in any democracy is to question the government of the day on their policies and hold them accountable to the public. The Leader of Opposition is also a sort of Prime Minister in waiting. Perhaps Mangala has forgotten this salient feature in parliamentary democracy. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) appointed as the main opposition party in parliament by the Yahapalana government in September 2015 made itself an appendage of the government and focused only on the welfare of its community. Under the circumstances, it is understandable that Mangala and many others have forgotten the role of the Leader of Opposition in a parliamentary democracy. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, foreign policy, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, Paranagama Report, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes

March 26, 2019 · 8:10 am

Chula Rajapakse’s Melancholy Review of the Sri Lankan Situation

Chula Rajapakse as President, USLA in Wellington, presenting His Summary Review, 22 March 2019

Since its inception over three decades ago the United Sri Lanka Association in Wellington has fervently furthered its main founding objective viz. doing what it takes to support Sri Lanka in preserving its independent and unitary status. Throughout the USLA’s existence, the main threat to this came from the violent terrorism of the Tamil Tigers and the devious and vicious misinformation from them. With the complete annihilation of the Tigers as a fighting force in Sri Lanka in May 2009, USLA continued its role in the countering Tiger misinformation that now took an even more devious form.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, doctoring evidence, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power sharing, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, war reportage, world events & processes

March 25, 2019 · 2:16 pm

Cricketing Sense from Ashantha De Mel’s Selection Team

Michael Roberts

Champika Fernando has served Sri Lanka’s cricketing world well by conducting a revealing interview with Ashantha De Mel, the Chief Selector for Sri Lanka Cricket, for the Daily Mirror. Ashantha not only represented Sri Lanka at cricket, but also was a leading bridge player in competitive tournaments. His acumen shines through in the analysis he has provided. While I have met him in passing in the distant past, I have had limited interaction with him: those brief occasions indicated to me that he is a no-nonsense person and would not suffer fools gladly.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cricket for amity, cultural transmission, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, Sri Lankan cricket, unusual people

March 25, 2019 · 9:39 am

Cricketing Assassins of the CRICKET AGE

Michael Roberts

I receive news items from the web-site CRICKET AGE on a pop-up basis and am therefore a witness to their propensity towards muckraking. This has been a consistent dimension of their reportage and commentary – to the point where one can suspect that it is a policy that goes beyond commonplace news sensationalism.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, disparagement, doctoring evidence, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, press freedom, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes

March 25, 2019 · 4:54 am

Undermining ISIS from within the Dungeons of the Cyberworld

Paul Maley, in The Australian, 25 March 2019, where the title is “How Aussie Spies won Propaganda War against ISIS”

In late-2016, as coalition aircraft pounded Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, the Australian ­Defence Force’s Commander of Joint Operations, David Johnston, issued a secret order to the Australian Signals Directorate. For the first time, Defence wanted ASD to use its vast cyber capabilities not for intelligence gathering or targeting — the agency’s traditional missions — but to take down and destroy ­Islamic State’s propaganda ­machine. What followed was a two-year campaign in which a small team of offensive cyber operators working out of a squat, grey building in Canberra’s Russell Defence ­precinct, waged war on Islamic State’s information warriors.

In this Nov. 18, 2017 photo, construction workers carry a generator as a bulldozer remove debris from destroyed shops in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq. Along the neighborhood’s gutted roads, a handful of people are beginning to rebuild but the task ahead will take years _ and billions of dollars. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, arab regimes, australian media, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, cultural transmission, doctoring evidence, foreign policy, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes

March 24, 2019 · 5:20 pm

Happy Heathen’s Insights on the Raging Debate on Eelam War IV in the Year 2012

Christopher Hitchens and the Pic accompanying his article on the Sri Lankan situaiton in late May 2009 … Sri Lankan soldiers with the remains of what’s said to be Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran

PREAMBLE from Michael Roberts:

On the 25th May 2012 I presented a long article embodying my criticisms of some of the literature on Eelam War IV in its final phase – see …………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2012/05/25/misreading-and-distorting-the-sri-lankan-war-2009-2012/.

While my studies progressed as I absorbed more of the substantial literature on the war and though my study in 2012 has been surpassed by my subsequent work, I remain convinced that this essay was moving in the right direction in circumstances where Western power interests and radical humanist overkill has instilled dogmatic stances laced with deceit. But on coming across this old effort because some reader had looked at it, I also came across a revealing a set of comments on the article by someone who wrote anonymously as HAPPY HEATHEN.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, communal relations, doctoring evidence, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

March 23, 2019 · 2:41 pm

Christchurch Hate Killings and the Hate Arising from the Digana Contretemps: Editorial Reflections

Editorial in the Sunday Observer of Sri Lanka, 17 March 2019, entitled “Christchurch and our own national experience”

Blood is being spilt with the claim of protecting one’s own ‘flesh and blood.’ It happened last Friday in Christchurch, in usually quiet New Zealand; it has happened in this country in sustained internal conflict over decades; and, it has happened all over the world throughout human history.

The gloom instilled by this litany is, however, dispelled by the bright success of societies in overcoming violence between communities, in managing conflict and, channelling social energies toward civilisational attainment. Happy are the societies that are warmly inclusive, that bravely embrace differentiation and unfamiliarity. Happy are those who celebrate co-existence and avoid or resolve the disruptions between groups, between people. Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, immigration, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, racist thinking, reconciliation, religiosity, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

March 23, 2019 · 10:42 am

Ashantha’s Incisive Exposition of Sri Lankan Cricket Team’s Problems and Immediate Goals

Champika Fernando, in Daily Mirror, 19 March 2019, with this title“The de Mel theory on World Cup”

Get the team balance right, ease the pressure, encourage unity and give the players a little freedom–this could be the winning combination for Sri Lanka to become a force to reckon with at the World Cup in June, Chief Cricket Selector Ashantha de Mel said this week.

“The problem here is everyone wants to do our job, others do not know the amount of effort and data we gather to get the right team,” explains Ashantha de Mel – Pic by Priyanka Samaraweera

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, landscape wondrous, life stories, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, taking the piss, unusual people, world events & processes

March 22, 2019 · 1:16 am

A Fitting Farewell to Dishan Shiyam Careem in Galle Fort

Dishan Shiyam Careem

To all his friends & family, …..After surviving two heart attacks in 2017 Shiyam always the inspiration and pioneer during a terrible thirty year civil war passed away last week with a third heart attack at 5.25 am. Leaving two sons Amzar and Samad who will have much to face over the coming months. I have attached a picture of his funeral that brought the whole city of Galle Fort out onto the streets to pray for him and say their farewells. He was laid to rest in the UNESCO listed Galle Fort Meeran Mosque, where he can watch the boats crossing the silk route of the sea for all eternity and be at one with the ancient city he loved and never wanted to leave. On friday night, the 22nd March there will be a party celebrating his life at the warehouse in the old city – The Last Tango In Galle Fort. If you are in Sri Lanka please do go and have one last dance to say goodbye and if you are not please do stay in touch as his sons will need all of you to be around. I apologise for doing this in blocks as there are still so many people still to tell.

Best wishes always, Juliet Coombe

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, pilgrimages, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people